Challus Mercer
Doctor Challus Mercer was a scientist aboard the [[USG Ishimura| USG Ishimura]], and is portrayed as a devout Unitologist, to the point of zealotry. Mercer becomes fanatically obsessed with the Necromorphs once things begin to go wrong, believing that they are the successors to the human race and that their ability to reanimate necrotic flesh is a sort of life after death. Role and Personality He performs several medical experiments on the crew of the Ishimura, one of which resulted in the Hunter. Like many aboard the Ishimura, Mercer is psycologically unstable. He advocated mass suicide amongst the crew, keeps severed human body parts in his office, and litters areas he stays in with numerous lanterns. He views the human race as obsolete in the face of the Necromorphs, even to the extent of helping the Necromorphs by deliberately sabotaging life support systems and even removing the Tram System Data Card from its port, rendering the entire Tram system throughout the Ishimura inoperable (it would later be found next to one of his lanterns). He views Isaac Clarke's struggle to survive as admirable but misguided, and attempts to kill him on several occasions by both having the Hunter attack Isaac and shutting off life support in sections of the Ishimura Isaac happened to be traveling through. He also murders Jacob Temple, after having already disposed of Temple's beloved Elizabeth Cross, killing him in front of Isaac by stabbing him through the forehead. Fate After Isaac finally destroys the Hunter, Mercer allows himself to be killed by an Infector, thereby becoming a Necromorph himself, in Chapter 10. He is fought shortly after, as an Enhanced Slasher, though the Infector can be killed before the transformation can come to an end (This way the fight with Mercer can be completely avoided). Trivia *It is also an interesting fact that he knows about the Hive Mind, exposed in Chapter 5 where he clearly asks Isaac "not to spurn the Hive Mind's offering", referring to the Necromorph infection. *Also, if the player interrupts Mercer's mutation, it appears that his corpse does not have a head which raises the question on how the Necromorphed Unitologist has a head after the transformation. *It is a mystery as to how Mercer managed to survive for so long after the infection spread to the ship - let alone how he managed to move around the ship unmolested. Though he might have used the ventilation shafts like Hammond; but this is debatable. A more feasible explanation, is that the Necromorphs don't seem to attack people under heavy delusions by the Marker or Hive Mind, as seen in Natalia Deshyanov. *Of all the people on the ship, Mercer seems to be the most insane: he creates The Hunter from a living subject in his quest to understand the Necromorph "gods". His freezing of Necromorphs to bring back to Earth, intending to make sure the human race was transformed into Necromorphs, is a further example of the depths of his madness. *It is interesting to note, that although Mercer was insane, he was still able to point out those who were under the influence of the Marker, as he did when detailing how Dr Kyne mentioned speaking to his wife. Noting that "Amelia Kyne has been dead for several years". Of course whether or not he made this recording before he plunged into true madness or not is debatable. *It should be noted that Mercer sacrifices himself in the room right before the room leading to Zero G Basketball. It can be assumed that he was the one who killed the many girls who's face has been covered with a type of cloth. Reasons for speculation are that in a previous chapter, Mercer is seen stabbing a stake like object through the head of a survivor. If you look closely at the bodies you can see they faced a similar death. Perhaps he does this to make it easier for an infector to create a slasher. *Many times you will find a relic of the Marker where Mercer has been. The first being the small black marker in his office and second being the slightly larger one on the table where he allows the infector to kill him. *Navid Negahban is the voice and likeness of Mercer Category:Characters